Business planning for success

By Justin Viney, General Manager, Catalyst Practice Solutions

There is an old saying that if you don’t know where you are going, how will you know how to get there? We believe that at the forefront of a great business plan is a compelling vision for your business.

Having a vision for your business means that you have a clear picture in your mind of what you want your business to become, so you can work towards making that vision a reality.

Without a vision we find that many financial planning practices find themselves jumping from one project to another with no focus, clarity or purpose. We also find that with a lack of clear vision, businesses focus on obstacles rather than goals and objectives!

A vision clearly distinguishes highly successful practices from the rest of the market. We find that top practices recognise that nearly anything is possible (if they want it enough) and make the time to:

• carefully think about what they want
• closely define that vision
• share it with all those who can assist them to realise it.

Developing a vision for your business was the introduction for the recent IOOF Catalyst Business planning for success workshops run in Sydney and Melbourne, as part of the IOOF Adviser Connect program.

The enthusiastic participants came from a variety of practices and regions, but they all came with the same purpose of spending a day working on their business, to learn from others and challenge themselves about their business planning. The workshop goes through an eight step process that includes setting visions, strategic planning, implementation and development and most important monitoring and reviews.

Here in the Catalyst team we feel that a good business plan is like a road map. You need to keep using it to find the best path to achieving your goals. We have seen that those businesses that have a documented business plan and review their progress at least quarterly enjoy significantly higher profits than those who had no plan.  

"Feedback from the workshops has been terrific" said Head of Sales for IOOF Geoff Kellett. "Advisers commented to me that the workshop helped them focus on their business and provide some commitment as they now have a new peer group to help them be accountable with their action plans.

We are certainly hoping to run more of these workshops in 2013," said Geoff.

If you are interested in finding out more information about IOOF Catalyst or the IOOF AdviserConnect program, please contact your local IOOF business development manager.